that's the difference between pretenders and the champions, better luck next time for novak's pressed haters(including me)

I can hold my hand up & say that I became bitter & pressed against him during his GOAT season. The beatings/humilations of Andy & Rafa were too much for me 98% of the time I am secretly hoping he will lose. Except against Olderer & Tipsa, naturally.

Even if he had gone 2 sets up he still would have lost. The BH he hit on one of those match points was clutch, though Monfils & Simon should really be ashamed after Novak & Stan.

That's what he said and in my opinion that's what seriously wrong with the ATP. Players don't really believe they will beat the top guys and are content with a great match. Söderling (as much as I despise him) didn't have that and it worked for him.

That's what he said and in my opinion that's what seriously wrong with the ATP. Players don't really believe they will beat the top guys and are content with a great match. Söderling (as much as I despise him) didn't have that and it worked for him.

Did he really say that? That says a lot Yeah, such a massive part of the sport is mental. As the old saying goes many of them are already beaten in the locker room. Robin is a good shout there. I didn't like him either But he was scared of no-one & really didn't give a shit It's a shame mono has claimed another victim on the ATP tour as with Ancic before him.

I really think they need to speed up the courts. This is a post from MTF that I really agree with...

Quote:

let's be honest it's true.

my favorite player of all time, any era, any generation, is Rafael Nadal, who the slowest of the courts has benefited more than anyone but it is somewhat gross to watch a player hit 5 insane shots in a rally to no avail

beyond even Djokovic, look at Nadal, Ferrer, Murray, Federer- all of the top guys are incredible movers. besides Federer are any of them more talented or better hitters than the likes of Wawrinka, Tsonga, Soderling, etc? not really

obviously some courts are going to be slow, clay is a whole entire section of the season that is very slow, but to make the majority of hard court tournaments play very slowly is ludicrous. what happens is those who work very hard on technique and actually are naturals at the beauty of the sport will lose over and over and over to athletes just based on agility and speed. I hear time and time and time again how Novak Djokovic has the best blah blah shots but the reality it's not so much that any of his shots are particularly incredible, as much as the nature of him always being able to get to balls with plenty of time

posters here are obviously right, it's not a coincidence that defenders are all atop the ATP rankings. once again, besides Federer.

while I love a good battle as much as the next person, there becomes a point where you would expect SOME big tournaments to play fast and be tennis competitions rather than Olympic run-athons. tennis is, after all, more about how you hit the ball than speed, or at least I think it should be. obviously we are presented with a problem when a player can hit the ball much worse than his opponent yet still win a match just due to how slo-mo everything has become

I loved the Wawrinka-Djokovic match. it was great. but you're watching it and it obviously hits your mind at some point, "how am I watching a match where one guy is dictating play the whole time with aggressive and wonderfully placed shots yet still only tied up in the match?" not to take away from Djokovic, but it is appalling that a player like Wawrinka has played the majority of his careers on ridiculously slow courts, and that if the ATP were not retarded and actually allowed some tournaments to remain at a decent speed, the likes of him would have chances to be successful based on talent rather than purely athleticism.

Wawrinka and Djokovic are both great tennis players but at their cores you have to think that Stan is possibly more talented yet with way way less success? why? inconsistancy? yeah. choking at times? yeah. mentality/focus? sure. but also then you have to realize and take into account the fact that a player who is more of a pure ballstriker and less of a hedgehog running around will fail in this slow paced world of tennis surfaces. it is a bit unfair. for gods sake are we going to have to create an indoor Grand Slam just for the sake of being fair? better yet speed up Australia or the US OPen, or prefarably both. I love watching Nadal play, but something is seriously wrong when you watch those highlights from last years Australian Open of Nadal winning points even when Berdych hits what, 4,5,6 winning shots. it's ludicrous

I feel gutted for Stan. I like Djokovic and think he's an incredible player and champion, but Wawrinka has had so many of these matches and deserves some validation and to earn some confidence.

Although I completely agree that courts are slow as fuck, I don't think that it made a difference. I like Novak, I root for him, but he was outplayed for the biggest part of this match. Stanislas was simply incapable of taking his chances and he had too many. It always backfires.

Although I completely agree that courts are slow as fuck, I don't think that it made a difference. I like Novak, I root for him, but he was outplayed for the biggest part of this match. Stanislas was simply incapable of taking his chances and he had too many. It always backfires.

When you have to hit 6 balls close to line just to force an error(not even hitting a clean winner!!) from djokovic your nerves fall apart, it's not like he missed some easy shots, novak just outlasted him and that's it, on faster surface 2 or 3 shots can finish the job
Watching matches on this courts is kinda weird, my eyes are giving me the wrong impression, so many times i think "it's a clear winner" and then the ball just slows down and opponent somehow manages to come back into the point.

This AO is all sorts of weird. It's as if everyone's suddenly turned completely irrelevant except for Serena and Sharapova who have turned into invincible monsters with super-powers. (One of them being slightly less invincible than the other one. )

''I saw JJ in her prime.
Another time, another time.''By Harold Pinter&Brena